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Goals & Importance:

The Maui Great Ape Sanctuary is an essential part of the Gorilla Foundation's mission to help to create a sustainable future for great apes. It is intended to:

• Provide a safe, natural habitat for captive gorillas outside Africa

• Foster interspecies communication in an ideal climatic setting for great apes

• Allow millions of viewers to learn about great apes via internet technology

• Establish a permanent home for The Gorilla Foundation to advance its mission

Current Status:

The Gorilla Foundation has raised and invested roughly $2M to develop a beautiful leased 70-acre site on Maui, Hawaii, as a great ape sanctuary. We are now looking to expand that site to approximately 350 acres and secure it as a great ape sanctuary in perpetuity— by finding a major donor to purchase the land. The land acquisition has become an important prerequisite for continuation of the project. A major donor or corporation interested in helping us with land acquisition will be entitled to selected naming rights, for both the land and the internet-based virtual visitor center that will connect this unique sanctuary to a worldwide audience. If you are interested in becoming such a major donor, please contact us.

Budget

Invested: TGF has raised $2M for the Maui Ape Sanctuary and invested it in the 70-acre leased site — for land preparation (clearing, grading and planting), foundations, utilities, reservoir and design and engineering (see pie chart).

Needed: Before additional funds are raised or invested, TGF must first purchase the land — 350 acres which includes the leased site to provide a suitable long-term habitat for gorilla family development and an integrated center for interspecies communication research and education. The estimated price of the expanded sanctuary land is between $5-10M. This value is sue to be re-appraised in August 2018, at which poiont fundraising by TGF will commence.

Plans

The Maui Great Ape Sanctuary is an ideal location for the Gorilla Foundation to accomplish its long-term goals of helping gorillas in both captive and free-living settings, and as a center for great interspecies communication research to optimize care and maximize world-wide empathy for the species. It's completion is contingent on a major donation to purchase the land for long-term stability and a partnership with a captive gorilla institution who wants to be the first to make it a home to several gorilla families.

We will provide updates here at Koko.org on the status of this monumental project.

Contact Us

If you would like to be a maor donor or partner on the Maui Sanctuary, please contact us.